LEISURE
RANGE ROVER TURNS
50
This June marked 50 years since the first Range Rover was revealed, but the story goes back even further.
D
uring the mid-1960s, in a bid to revolutionise the growing 4x4 leisure market, the Rover car company’s engineering chief for new vehicle
projects, Charles Spencer ‘Spen’ King (nephew of the founders of Land Rover), hatched a plan to combine the comfort and on-road ability of a Rover saloon with the off-road capability of a Land Rover. Development of the first 100-inch station wagon
prototype began during the late 1960s, with the first model being released to the world’s media to critical acclaim in 1970. Its blend of ability – motorway cruising, off-roading, and even towing in style and comfort – ensured its instant popularity. The original Classic model was cited as an ‘exemplary work of industrial design’ when it became the first vehicle to be displayed at the world-famous Louvre Museum in Paris in 1971. The first-generation Range Rover (1970-1996) was originally only available as a two-door when it went on sale in 1970. During its 26-year lifespan, the Classic continued to evolve with the introduction of the fourdoor model in 1981 and an automatic gearbox in 1982. The first diesel Range Rover arrived in 1986. The second-generation Range Rover, known as the P38A, arrived in 1994 and was instantly recognisable thanks to its familiar
46
SILVER DIGEST // WINTER 2020
